Roll On Down the Highway - BTO (1974) 3/12/22

Sometimes advertising agencies screw up. Maybe it's because a client is too demanding...or just doesn't know what they want. Sometimes the agency itself is too conservative, or In other words: too afraid to think outside the box.

In the case of today's "Great Song of 1974," it may have been a bit of both, but it's hard to tell.

Ford Motor Company was interested in creating a new jingle, so Randy Bachman and Fred Turner of Bachman Turner Overdrive were commissioned to come up with some ideas. They happily obliged...but Ford (or the agency) rejected everything they submitted.

Well, Randy and Fred knew they had at least ONE hit in those rejected jingles...so with help from Randy's brother, Robbie, they retooled one of them into "Roll On Down the Highway," and added it to their album, "Not Fragile."

When it was released as a single, music critics sat up and took notice right away. Billboard called it a "driving rocker combining simplicity of sound with vocal and instrumental skill." Cashbox called it a "great car radio tune." Both magazines were correct.

"Roll On Down the Highway" rolled up the charts in both the US and Canada, reaching #4 up North (BTO's home country) and #14 in the US.

If Ford and their agency weren't embarrassed by all the free airplay and publicity they missed out on by NOT using it as a jingle, they should have been. Or maybe they didn't even notice. You never know.

"Roll On Down the Highway" by Bachman Turner Overdrive: a rejected Ford jingle...but a "Great Song of 1974!"